A Traditional Irish Lamb Stew

Irish Lamb Stew has become somewhat of a tradition for us on St. Patrick’s Day.

For years, I served corned beef and cabbage, always a favorite, and then to mix it up a bit, we began serving salmon, always a traditional Irish choice.

But for some reason, lately, our son begins to crave Irish Lamb Stew on the 17th of March. For the last several years — and I see no sign of it stopping.It may be the idea that this stew bubbled in Irish cauldrons for centuries — or it may be our Celtic music and dancing that adds to our fun — or it may be the accompanying

It may be the idea that recipes similar to this traditional Irish Lamb Stew bubbled in cauldrons for centuries in Ireland — or it may be the Celtic music we turn up rather loud on the 17th, or even the jigs we dance on that night. Or it may be that this stew is perfectly accompanied by his all time favorite Irish soda bread or the Raw Apple Cake I seem to always bake. But wherever his cravings are coming from — you can be sure that Irish Lamb Stew will be simmering at my house on this festive evening this year. Once again.

And for the purists among us — substitute the lamb for 1.2kg mutton (year old lamb), which equates to about 3.5lbs. The rest of the ingredients are purely traditional.

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 lb chopped lamb
3 medium onions, thickly sliced
3 medium russet potatoes, thickly sliced
1 medium turnip – cut into chunks
3 stalks celery – cut into large pieces
4 medium carrots – cut into chunks
fresh thyme and parsley
salt and pepper

PREPARATION:

Place onions, carrots, turnip and celery into a heavy dutch oven and then place meat on top. Add thyme, salt and pepper and cover with cold water. Bring to a near boil. Skim any excess fat that may rise to the surface. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 2 hours.

Remove the cover for the last 1/2 hour -it’s important that the meat does not boil. (As the old saying goes “a stew boiled is a stew spoiled”).

About a half hour before stew finishes, boil some potatoes to add to the stew just before serving.

Serve into deep plates and scatter freshly chopped parsley over with boiled jacket potatoes – (the potatoes IN the stew are just for thickening purposes).

Inspired from Irish website: Good Food Ireland

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